1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an apparatus for use with garden plants including vegetables, flowers, shrubs, seedlings and the like; and more specifically, to a covering used to protect vegetation from the elements, during the winter months, as well as from unwanted animal critters.
2. Description of Related Art
Various types of plant coverings, including temporary and reusable structures, have been used for years to protect garden plantings from the elements. Garden plantings such as trees, shrubs, plants, flowers and ground cover are often used to landscape homes or other structures. Modern-day homeowners often go to great costs when landscaping their homes. Depending upon the type, style and amount of landscaping, the cost and value of a home may increase significantly. Accordingly, the homeowner has a vested interest in protecting the landscaping from the elements particularly in cold weather environments as well as from those pesky animal critters who feed on the seedlings resulting in severely hindering the growth or development.
In order to protect the landscaping, many types of coverings and covering supports have been used. Tightly wrapping a fabric material around small trees or bushes is one way to provide protection from the elements. Such activity can be labor and cost intensive. In addition, a plurality of stakes are driven into the ground adjacent the landscaping and a sheet of material is then attached to the stakes to provide cover for the landscaping, for example the material is placed or staked adjacent bushes or shrubs. Once again, such a process is labor intensive and is often left to the skill of the laborer to properly stake and fasten the fabric as necessary to protect the landowner's landscaping.
As set forth above, protective coverings for vegetation have been known for some time. For example, Seffinga et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,591 discloses a tunnel type covering that can be folded up and packed into a cylindrical shaped container. When assembled over a flower bed, several spaced apart arches or wickets are driven into the ground and covered by a synthetic resin sheet gathered at the ends and fastened to pegs or stakes driven into the ground at the end of the row of wickets.
Gorewitz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,265,049 discloses a reusable temporary cover for houseplants to retain moisture for the plant. The cover is formed of a flexible transparent plastic sheet material with a tie or drawstring located at the bottom thereof. The sheet material is placed over the plant and the drawstring is pulled to secure and completely enclose the houseplant.
Koffler et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,707 discloses a cylindrical cover for plants used to protect plants or vegetation from meteorological elements, insects, birds and other small animals.
Lin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,298 discloses a sun shade arrangement that protects plants from birds, insects, pests and adverse weather conditions. It uses a mechanism having two sets of two stakes each. A roll of screening material, or the like is attached to one of these sets of stakes and a take-up reel is attached to the other set of stakes. The roll of material and the take-up reel are provided with a swivel and adjustment means so that the individual ends of the row, and particularly, the individual corners thereof may be tilted, raised, lowered and the like to accommodate the different types of plants so as to provide for rain runoff, shading, and/or shielding from birds.
Lundgren, U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,924 discloses a frame structure arranged to be supported on the ground adjacent to a planted area when a roller is arranged and selectively coupled to the frame structure for rotation about an axis of the roller. An elongated main sheet extends in a longitudinal direction. The main sheet is coupled to the roller at one end with the free end of the main sheet being arranged to be selectively coupled to the frame structure spaced from the roller. Accordingly, the main sheet is placed over the frame structure with the main sheet including a plurality of sheets that are suspended from the respective sides of the main sheet and defining an enclosure over the planted area. Additionally, Lundgren shows the use of hook and loop fasteners as tie strips between the seams of various side panels to connect the flaps to the frame.
One problem with the prior art is that it typically refers to some type of structure or enclosure for covering vegetation which involves assembling a frame and then covering the frame with a sheet of material. Such systems are often very complicated and expensive. Typically do not have a great deal of versatility, nor are they suitable for covering different types and sizes of vegetation. Since applying a covering to landscape vegetation in the past has typically been a time consuming and thus costly endeavor, it is desirable to have an apparatus that is easily secured adjacent to and protects the multiple types, styles, and sizes of plantings for landscaping and is available in prepackaged form to reduce the labor requirements for installations.